Oral History Interview with Mary Steele Leon, April 15, 1997 transcript

Oral History Interview with Mary Steele Leon, April 15, 1997

Interview with Mary Steele Leon, a secretary for the U. S. Navy during and after World War II. She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and was trained as a secretary. Her first assignment was in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. The CNO at the time was Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. After the war, she served as personal secretary for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz while he was CNO. She was discharged in 1946.
Date: April 15, 1997
Creator: Alexander, Bill & Leon, Mary Steele
Object Type: Sound
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Avenger Field History] (open access)

[Avenger Field History]

Documents describing the history of the Sweetwater Airport, Avenger Field, and the WASP program.
Date: April 15, 1996
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jess Stanbrough, April 15, 1985 (open access)

Oral History Interview with Jess Stanbrough, April 15, 1985

Interview with Jess Stanbrough, a Texas National Guard WWII veteran from Wichita Falls, Texas, who served and was captured with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (the "Lost Battalion.") Stanbrough discusses his time in the Guard before the war, deployment to the Pacific, the fall of Java and being captured, experiences in internment at Tanjong Priok and Bicycle Camp in Batavia, operating a clandestine radio, transfer to Japan, being an iron smelter at Kamaishi, Honshu, American air and naval bombardment, and liberation.
Date: April 15, 1985
Creator: Marcello, Ronald E. & Stanbrough, Jess
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
[Clipping: Return of a WASP] (open access)

[Clipping: Return of a WASP]

Newspaper clippings of the article, "The Return of a WASP" which discusses the homecoming of Twila Edwards after her time as a Women Airforce Service Pilot. She shares the difficulties she has looking for civilian pilot positions and the challenges she's faced due to WASPs not being a military service. The article includes several photos of Twila Edwards.
Date: April 15, 1945
Creator: Boulkind, Mae & Ruohomaa, Kosti
Object Type: Clipping
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Dave Koenig Posing Outside of Barracks]

Photograph of Dave Koenig, identified as "Dave Koenig (Pin Up Boy)," posing outside of barracks at the Waco Army Air Field. He poses shirtless on a sidewalk that runs along rows of identical, light-colored buildings.
Date: April 15, 1944
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Photograph of Commanding Officer and Adjutant #2]

Photograph of Commanding Officer Major Baird and Adjutant 1st Lieutenant Byrens posing in the Waco Army Airfield. Both men are in uniform, including hats. A two-story building is visible in the background.
Date: April 15, 1944
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Photograph of the 54th Basic Flying Training Group at WAAF]

Photograph of the 54th Basic Flying Training Group at Waco Army Air Field. Adjutant 1st Lt. Byrens, Commanding Officer Major Bair, and P. T. Instructor Mickey Manojack stand on the left side of the front row. The photographer stands "somewhere in left rear."
Date: April 15, 1944
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History
The Eagle, Volume 1, Number 50, Thursday, April 15, 1943 (open access)

The Eagle, Volume 1, Number 50, Thursday, April 15, 1943

Weekly newsletter published for employees of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Fort Worth Division containing work-related information, updates about employees, and other news. This issue includes a two-page photo spread on the corporation's top events and achievements of the past year.
Date: April 15, 1943
Creator: Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Plosser-Prince Air Academy to British Air Commission, April 15, 1943] (open access)

[Letter from Plosser-Prince Air Academy to British Air Commission, April 15, 1943]

Letter from Plosser-Prince Air Academy to the British Air Academy enclosing a $10,000 check to be paid towards Plosser-Prince Air Academy's debt to the British Air Commission.
Date: April 15, 1943
Creator: Olin, R. E.
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History